Saying goodbye is hard, especially when you had such a good time.
Freshman/Sophomore Year
The first year of high school is always a somewhat rough experience. Being introduced to a brand new school with students a lot older than you can be scary. My first day of high school I remember being very nervous, and not knowing what to expect. After the first day, it started to get easier to both navigate and feel comfortable in the school. One thing that I joined freshman year that would cause an impact on me was cheerleading. Being apart of the cheerleading team my first year definitely led me to make new friends that I might’ve not met if it wasn’t for cheerleading.
Sophomore year was a fresh new start and a lot easier than freshman year. Continuing cheerleading in sophomore year led me to become the JV Cheerleading captain. This made me learn a lot of new experiences and leadership skills. Another thing I was introduced to in sophomore year was journalism. Walking into journalism, I didn’t know what to expect. I had thought that I just took the class as an elective and I probably wouldn’t have liked it very much. However, I was wrong and this became a class that I wanted to take the next year too.
Junior/Senior Year
People say that junior year is one of the hardest years of high school, and they are definitely correct. The work load that you get in junior year is tough, however, it prepares you for your college applications and so on. In junior year, I became part of the varsity cheerleading team which was a great experience for me. Also, I continued in journalism this year and loved it even more than I did the last. COVID-19 cut junior year short by almost half, however, I was still able to have some fun experiences.
Senior year was one that was never expected. Due to COVID-19, a lot of senior activities were cancelled. We also had months at a time where the school was shut down. This was definitely sad and something that I never wanted for my senior year.
However, there were still good things that came out of this year. First, I was named Varsity Cheerleading Captain, which was a huge accomplishment for me. Next, I was also named Co-Editor-in-Chief, along with Matt Mendives. Along the way, I also applied for around 10 colleges and was accepted into all of them.
In the end, I decided on Montclair State University for next fall. Senior year went by fast and felt like there was a bunch of things happening at once. However, I feel like I lived the most of it.
Overall
Overall, I feel like high school was a great four years of my life. Even with COVID-19 cutting off some of it, I still feel like I had a great high school experience.
One cliche piece of advice I have for underclassman is to enjoy your years here because it goes fast and you can never relive these moments. I never believed anyone when they told me that high school goes fast, but now I do.
Thank you Colonia High School for the past four years of my life and giving me memories that I will never forget.
